Technology

An international team of scientists observed a cooling effect in a large radius around solar arrays. The cooling may have implications for local ecosystem management.

The Indian solar power sector is undergoing a technology-backed transformation at every stage from manufacturing to installation to improve cost and performance efficiency.

Vietnamese manufacturer Irex has announced a new glass-glass solar panel with a power output of 265 W and a power conversion efficiency of 18.1%.

The Indian solar manufacturer has unveiled mono PERC half-cut-cell modules with output ranging from 375Wp to 410 Wp. The five-busbar modules can be used in all installations including off-grid, residential, commercial and industrial, and utility-scale.

The ratings agency expects the energy demand in FY 2021-22 to grow by 8-8.5%. While the increased energy demand will improve the thermal plant load factor (PLF) level, this sector outlook remains negative as the PLF level will remain below 60%.

The venture capital arm of British energy company bp has invested $13 million in BluSmart in a $25 million Series A funding round. The investment will help BluSmart bring its electric vehicles and charging stations to five major cities.

An Indian research group has built a perovskite cell that has a metal contact based on copper, instead of expensive gold. The device showed almost the same efficiency as a cell developed with gold metallization but its stability was much lower. In order to overcome this issue, the scientists suggest using a metal contact made of a thin layer of gold and a thicker, overlying copper layer.

Multiple factors can affect the lifespan of a residential battery energy storage system. We examine the life of batteries in Part 3 of our series.

The Indian solar manufacturer currently has 750 MW of cell and module factory in Hyderabad and plans to more than triple this capacity with the addition of 2 GW mono PERC. The capacity augmentation is planned over the next two years with an investment of INR 1,200 crore. The equity capital from GEF will support the expansion.

U.S. start-up EnerVenue has secured funding to build a gigafactory to produce nickel-hydrogen batteries for large scale renewable and storage applications. The battery has an efficiency ranging from 80 to 90%, depending on the cycle rate, and its energy density per square foot is equal to, or better than lithium-ion batteries, according to the company.